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What is a Disability?

A disability under the law is any “physical or mental impairment that substantially impairs or restricts one or more major life activities such as: caring for one’s self, performing manual tasks, walking, seeing, hearing, breathing, learning and working.” The disability may be permanent or temporary.

Common Disabilities and Accommodations

Health Impairments include medical conditions and health-related impairments that interfere with a student’s ability to pursue an education. These conditions may include, but are not limited to, health issues such as epilepsy, cancer, Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS), cerebral palsy, multiple sclerosis, various seizure disorders, respiratory problems, muscular dystrophy, traumatic brain injury, substance abuse, cardiac disorders and various mental, emotional, and psychological disorders. Instructors and students are encouraged to work together to find alternative methods of accomplishing required tasks.

Hearing Impairments (HI)HI students rely on facial expressions, gestures, and body language to facilitate the communication process. Classroom benefits to the HI student might include interpreters in the classroom, written scripts/outline of lectures prior to class presentations of films, slides, or tapes, seating at the front of the classroom positioned so as to see both the instructor, the interpreter, and any visual aids being used, and note-takers.

Learning Disabilities (LD)LD is defined as a disorder in one or more of the basic psychological processes involved in the understanding or use of language (either spoken or written). LD disorders may include imperfect ability to listen, think, speak, read, write, spell, or perform mathematical calculations, perceptual handicaps, brain injury, minimum brain dysfunction, dyslexia, developmental aphasia.

Visual Impairments include individuals who are considered legally blind with a visual acuity of 20/200 or more in the better eye after correction.

VI students may require class handouts provided in Braille, enlarged, or recorded on tape, more time to complete tests, and arrangements for textbooks on tape provided through Recordings for the Blind and Dyslexic.

Pensacola State College is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges to award baccalaureate and associate degrees and certificates. Contact the Commission on Colleges at 1866 Southern Lane, Decatur, Georgia 30033-4097 or call 404-679-4500 for questions about the accreditation status of Pensacola State College or if there is evidence that appears to support Pensacola State College’s significant non-compliance with a requirement or standard. -- Pensacola State College does not discriminate against any person on the basis of race, ethnicity, national origin, color, gender/sex, age, religion, marital status, pregnancy, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, or genetic information in its educational programs, activities, or employment. For inquiries regarding Title IX and the College’s nondiscrimination policies, contact the Executive Director, Institutional Equity and Student Conduct at (850) 484-1759, Pensacola State College, 1000 College Blvd., Pensacola, Florida 32504.